


until whichever comes first

by ragnehild (orphan_account)



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Altered Mental States, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ragnehild
Summary: After being kidnapped by Grindelwald, Graves starts to lose himself. Bit by bit.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	until whichever comes first

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one back in 2016, shortly after the movie's premiere. Learned a whole lot of English since then, but figured it's decent enough to share with the world. Enjoy!

Wandless magic is, essentially, channeling energy through one’s hands instead of using a wand to enhance the effects - that’s why it’s so challenging and requires so much skill.

The first thing Grindelwald does after capturing Percival is break his hands.

Impersonating an Auror is the easiest part, but as they say, the devil’s in the details. Grindelwald needs to know everything - his life story, his ticks, codes to private lockers - to make it believable. All the department's secrets are merely icing on the cake.

He doesn’t use the Imperius curse. Of course, he could make him spill all the secrets, but where’s the joy in that?

So he tries to get into the other man's head.

It isn’t easy, at first. After all, aurors are trained to resist this kind of attack. And Graves is strong, even Grindelwald has to admit that. He’s built a solid wall around his mind, one that does not shutter under continuous blows.

After hours of being struck with Cruciatus, he’s getting tired. Percival is aware that he can’t go on like this forever. He can already feel his defenses weakening and becoming more and more unstable with every round of this madness. It’s becoming hard to focus and after a while, he realizes that the pain doesn’t stop, even after his captor lowers his wand. It’s still there, just an echo or a shadow of what’s about to come.

After what feels like weeks, he breaks. To his surprise, someone else’s consciousness entering his doesn’t feel exactly foreign - more like a grim, long-awaited embrace. He gives in, almost with a sense of relief that it’s over.

After all, he has outlived his usefulness.

Before Percival opens his eyes, he rolls over and vomits on the floor. To his surprise, he’s alone. Grindelwald must’ve left not so long ago.

Then he feels it. A lingering sensation at the back of his head. An invitation, almost like someone’s offering him a hand. He takes it without hesitation, no longer able to resist in any way. Common sense has left him. What does he have to lose anyway?

It’s not like anyone’s coming to save him.

***

At first, he’s surrounded by darkness, but as it slowly fades, he’s able to recognize the blurry silhouettes of people passing him by, the image becoming more and more coherent every second. Perplexed, he looks around and recognizes one of the busier streets of New York. Percival tries to take a step forward and then it hits him - he can’t. This body isn’t really his, he’s still chained up in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, Grindelwald wants him to be a witness of what’s about to come.

He comes by every few days to bring Perival some water and whatever remains of food he has left, just so Graves doesn’t die from starvation. When the man gets close enough, Percival’s able to see with his own two eyes again, but after a few days, it doesn’t feel normal anymore. 

Years ago he was taught that the first law of surviving long term torture is to eat when offered and he does. Trying to maintain last bits of dignity he has left, Percival eats slowly, even when his brain is screaming to gulp down everything in one go. His hands aren’t fit to hold a spoon anymore, so Grindelwald has to do it for him, making the whole experience even more humiliating.

Every bite feels like admitting defeat over and over again.

He’s slowly losing himself. Sometimes he has problems telling whenever the thought was his or his captor's. Their personalities blur together. He’s aware that Grindelwald finds his confusion particularly amusing.

During these short moments when he’s not forced to watch the havoc that the man impersonating him causes, he comes back to the room he’s locked up in and ends up staring at the wall, attempting to think of a well-put escape plan, but quickly gives up. He tries to get up once - unsurprisingly, the combination of abuse, poor nutrition and being forced into someone’s head has worn him down enough that the most he can do are stumble on shaky legs, just to lose his balance and fall down.

Ironically, the only feelings that keep him sane are anger and despair. He clings to them.

When Grindelwald smacks Credence, Graves kicks and screams tries closing his eyes. None of this works, of course. He can see the change in the boy’s eyes, the initial shock transforming into something else, something much darker.

He never thought he’d beg. And yet he is, a litany of words streaming out of his mouth. Maybe’s he’s saying it out loud, maybe not, but one thing he knows for sure is that Grindelwald not only listens but takes great satisfaction as Percival gets more and more frantic, begging the man to spare Credence, to let him go, to not hurt him.

He can only sit down and watch as the young man literally breaks into a thousand tiny pieces. He barely notices the following events, until he realizes that Grindelwald is kneeling on the ground, hands tied behind his back. The last thing Percival hears is _revelio._

The connection between them is severed in a brutal way, like breaking a bone. The Auror soon realizes that he’s truly alone. One thing that terrifies him is that he doesn’t find it comforting at all.

Then he feels something - a glimpse of hope. To die like this, in a dark, mold-ridden corner, would be unfit for someone like him. a tiny voice in his mind keeps saying that he deserves it - a suitable punishment. Percival thinks that maybe there’s a chance for him after all - a chance to get out of here alive. That his fellow Aurors will find him, now when his captor has been caught. That they’ll help him.

He isn’t sure if he really wants them to.


End file.
